Brandon Naylor was 38 years old when he was stabbed on the evening of Friday, May 23, 2025, in the 1800 block of North Woodyear Street in West Baltimore. He died of his injuries at a hospital. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide by stabbing.
According to Fox45, officers responded to a report of an aggravated assault on the block around 7:56 p.m.
"Upon arrival, they discovered Naylor suffering from stab wounds," the station reported. "Medics took him to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries, according to the Baltimore Police Department." Police released his name on May 29, 2025, and Fox45 reported that "homicide detectives are actively investigating the case" and urged anyone with information to call them.
The Baltimore Witness, a nonprofit court and crime news site, reported his identification under the headline "Police Identify Sandtown-Winchester Stabbing Victim." His photo, credited to Metro Crime Stoppers, appeared in WMAR-2 News's "Faces of Baltimore City's 2025 murder rate," a project that set out to show the face of every person killed in the city that year, and his name was included on WYPR's "Names of Baltimore's Fallen" list. A Hoodline story about the killing was headlined "West Baltimore Community Mourns after Fatal Stabbing of Local Man."
Beyond those reports, little about his life has been made public. No obituary or family fundraiser that clearly refers to him could be found for this story. Brandon Naylor is not a rare name, and searches also turn up a congressional staffer, a doctor and others who share it, none of them connected to this case. The public record does not say what led to the stabbing, whether Naylor knew the person who attacked him, whether anyone saw it happen, or whether detectives have identified a suspect. Someone in his family or among his friends surely remembers who he was, but that has not entered the public record.
Sandtown-Winchester is a West Baltimore neighborhood of rowhouse blocks that drew national attention in 2015, when Freddie Gray was arrested there and died of injuries suffered in police custody. Residents and community groups have worked for years to rebuild and steady the neighborhood, and a stabbing on a spring Friday evening, at an hour when people are often outside, may well have been seen or heard by someone on or near the block.
Homicides in Baltimore began falling steeply in 2023 and 2024, reaching the lowest totals in decades, yet many killings from those years remain unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Brandon Naylor could be found in news archives or public records. More than one year later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in the 1800 block of North Woodyear Street on the evening of May 23, 2025, or who has heard talk about what happened to Brandon Naylor, may know something that could help detectives. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call Baltimore Police homicide detectives at 410-396-2100, or leave an anonymous tip with Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland at 1-866-7LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587).
